After nearly ending the fight with a late-first-round barrage, Emelianenko instead was countered with a stiff uppercut that ended his night. But he thinks referee Herb Dean may have been quick on the trigger to stop it.

“It seems to me, yes (it was stopped early),” he said through translator and M-1 executive Steve Bash. “It seems to me objectively, I was ready to continue fighting.”

Replays, though, seem to tell another story. While Emelianenko (31-4 MMA, 1-3 SF) had his opponent on shaky ground and in survival mode, Henderson (28-8 MMA, 3-1 SF) fought his way back to his knees and then popped his opponent with an uppercut to the chin. Following the stunning turn of events, Emelianenko fell face first into the canvas, which prompted Dean to award Henderson the TKO win at the 4:12 mark of the opening round.

While the idea of a rematch was broached in the post-fight presser, neither party seemed especially eager for it. Sure, Henderson said he’s willing to fight whomever the fans want, and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said the first meeting carried what was arguably the deepest card in Strikeforce history.

Emelianenko also didn’t shoot down the possibility. But following recent losses to Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva, he knows his would-be dance card is getting full.

“We’ll see,” he said with a grin. “It just seems a lot of potential rematches have built up the last few fights.”

But for that rematch or any other one to take place under the Strikeforce banner, Emelianenko would need a new deal. And having the M-1 fighter re-sign with Strikeforce is anything but a certainty, especially following a losing streak that has arguably has diminished his value in the U.S. market place.

So what’s next?

“I can’t really say,” the former PRIDE champion said. “I have to sit down with my manager Vadim (Finkelstein) and see what kind of offers and opportunities we’ve got.”

Emelianenko continually has said his future is in God’s hands. He’s content to let the future play out however it may. For him, he has few desires for the future. And most of them have nothing to do with fighting.

“Right now, what I’d like to do is return home to Russia to see my newborn daughter,” he said. “She was just born, and I’m very fortunate for this gift in my life. With respect to MMA, I just have to think about it and decide what I’m going to do in the future.

“My entire adult life and young life, all I’ve known is training and fighting and competing. That’s something that I very much love continue doing, and I’d still like for that to be a large part of my life. But today, my life, what’s first is my faith and my religion, and then my family. That’s what I live for. … My job and what I do for work is secondary behind those two things.”

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